A/N- Third Part of the Fix-It Series: a series of drabbles where I give non-endgame couples happy endings.
Part 1: Tyler/Caroline (The Vampire Diaries)
Part 2: Jake/Peyton (One Tree Hill)
Guys like Dan Humphrey do not get the girl. They just don't. It's a fact.
Still, when he first sees her, he can't help but be smitten. His first thought is her eyes are impossibly big. Then she flutters her eyelashes, dismissing him like yesterday's trash and clasps on Nate's arm, and a cold reality settles in. This is the girl his new friend had spent the past week going on about.
She turns towards him. "Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't realize you were there."
Nate snorts, but shakes his head right after. Dan glares at the floor.
"Blair, this is Dan. Dan, this is my girlfriend, Blair."
Seeming to be overly pleased with her title, the brunette clings to his new and only friend at the prestigious high-school.
She flicks her wrist, pretty lips set in a line. "Move, cabbage patch."
"As you wish."
She looks at him like he's crazy. And he thinks he might have a screw or two lose, because that is totally not what he planned on saying to his new friend's girlfriend.
DBDBDBDBDBDBDBDBDBDBDBDB
So, he is sort of dating Serena, and he almost thought they were going somewhere. At least, until it was revealed she had slept with Nate and betrayed Blair. It's the betraying Blair part that bothers him the most.
He is trying, he really is, to kill this thing he has for Blair. It just won't go away.
He ends it with the blond, and sits in a corner by himself to sulk. He is good at that. Apparently, it is a new pass time for Blair because he finds her at a lunch table, legs crossed at the ankles, looking oddly vulnerable.
She looks up at him, eyes narrowing. "Humphrey," she bites out. Her voice almost sounds accusing, as if she is blaming him for the current mess of their love lives.
"Blair." He returns.
Her eyes soften around the corners, unprepared for the lack of venom in his voice.
"Go bother someone else," she hisses.
He remains silent. "I'm sorry you have to go through this."
She snorts. It's so un-Blair line he cringes. "I thought you were a Serena worshiper."
He shrugs. "Not quite." If he worships any woman, it's her.
She glares at him, and not knowing what else to say, tells him to shut up.
He shrugs, unfazed. "As you wish."
She shakes her head. "You have issues."
DBDBDBDBDBDBDBDBDBDBDB
"Humphrey!"
He rolls his eyes, turning away from his locker and towards her incoming form. "Yes, Blair."
"I need a date to the prom." It's a statement and very obvious where this is leading.
"Okay." But, he plays dumb anyway. "And?"
"Humphrey..."
He turns back to his locker. She hits him in the shoulder with a notebook.
"You are taking me! Okay? So, if you have a date, which I doubt you do, because, well, it's you, cancel it."
"As you wish."
She glares, and begins to walk away. "I'll be picking out your suit, Humphrey," she calls over her shoulder.
DBDBDBDBDBDBDBDBDBDBDB
Somehow, he ends up dancing with Serena during prom, and Blair with Nate. He doesn't like this arrangement, even though he thinks he is supposed to. He definitely doesn't like how close Nate and Blair are, or how his best friend leans in to kiss his other best friend...is that what Blair was, his other best friend?
Serena pulls him closer and whispers that she misses him. He isn't sure how to respond, but she continues, and he is able to remain silent.
"What I did with Nate, that was the past me, okay? Who I am now...she likes you, she wants to be with you, not her best friend's boyfriend."
He is kind of weirded out by her third person references and not to mention Nate isn't Blair's boyfriend anymore.
He glances back over at Nate and Blair to find Blair, sans Nate. She is standing in the middle of a few couples, hands dangling at her sides.
"Serena, I'll talk to you later." Is all he says before heading towards Blair.
She looks up at him, doe eyes brimming with tears. They are still just as startlingly big as the first time he saw them, only now framed by fake lashes, and eyelids painted a silver.
"Can we get out of here?"
"As you wish."
She scrunches up her nose.
"Why do you always say that?"
He shrugs. "Because I like annoying you, Waldorf
DBDBDBDBDBDBDB
It's a Thursday evening, when Blair knocks on his door with a copy of The Princess Bride in her hand, eyebrows raised. She slams the DVD case into his chest, her heels clicking on the hard-floor of his loft.
"What the hell is this, Humphrey?"
"Some would say a classic..."
"Have you ever watched it?"
He isn't so sure he wants to answer that question, because, yes, he has and the movie has started to replay in his mind. In particular, a certain line, and the real meaning behind it. Is that what he had meant this entire year…? Surely, he would have known if he loved her. He liked her, had a crush….but loved...that was a bit dramatic.
He looks her over, mainly her face; wide eyes, cheeks pink from the heat.
"Yes." His answer is simple.
"Unbelievable. You're a lot things, Humphrey...most of them unpleasant, but I never thought coward was one of them."
DBDBDBDBDBDBDBDBDBDBDB
It's two weeks before she calls him, sniffling and slurring.
"You were supposed to have called me by now, Dan."
"I wanted to."
"Why didn't you?"
"Because..."
"Shut up! Just say it...actually say it! Okay...like the actual words. When I'm sober, tell me, and bring me flowers."
He is met with dial tone after that.
The next day he swallows his pride and finds himself standing in her foyer, without flowers.
She arches her eyebrow at him. "Where are the flowers, Humphrey?"
He ignores her. "Blair," he says her name, and he hears her breath catch. "I love you. I am pretty sure I have ever since I first met you, if that's even feasible."
Silence envelopes them, and he begins to squirm.
"Are you going to say anything?"
She smiles. "As you wish."
He growls. "Blair..."
"As you wish."
"What…?"
"As you wish, Humphrey!"
"Blair, what the hell? Do you not understand what I just said?"
She moves closer to him, her nose brushing his. "As. You. Wish."
He swallows, suddenly fully understanding the meaning of her words. Then he kisses her. Or maybe she kisses him. Who cares? Because he gets the girl in the end.
